Pumping system for plastic concrete and similar mixtures



' Sept. 8, 1936. 2,054,022

PUMPING SYSTEM FOR PLASTIC CONCRETE AND SIMILAR MIXTURES C. I.LONGENECKER Filed Oct 20, 1953 CVZarZes ZLongeneckez;

who ammo Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PUMPINGSYSTEM FOR PLASTIC CON- CRETE AND SIMILAR MIXTURES Application October20, 1933, Serial No. 694,482

5 Claims.

This invention relates to pumping systems for plastic concrete andsimilar mixtures, and more particularly to the pipes or conduits throughwhich the mixture travels from the propelling 5 means to the point ofdischarge, and has for one of its objects to provide simple andefiective means for facilitating the handling of certain of the conduitsections.

While susceptible of use with other types of propelling means, thepresent apparatus has been developed primarily for use in connectionwith a recently developed mechanical concrete pump, known to the tradeas Pumpcrete. These pumps are built in both single cylinder and multiplecylinder models, and although the invention may in some instances finduse with the single cylinder pump, it is more particularly adapted toemployment with the multiple cylinder type, and for purposes of thepresent disclosure has been shown in the accompanying drawing inconjunction with a twin Pumpcrete.

As is now known to those especially skilled in the art, the combining oftwo or more confined streams of plastic concrete mixture presentscertain inherent difiiculties not met with in connection with othermaterials, such as liquids and gases, the individual particles of whichare quite free to move about and change their positions relative to oneanother. The presence in a concrete mixture of the relatively largeproportion of coarse aggregate, in the form of gravel or crushed rock,in sizes up to 3" or more in greatest dimension, imparts to suchmixtures a property known as stowing. That is to say, the

pieces of aggregate of this size, which usually constitute at least 50%of the mixture, when confined in closed conduits cannot readily changetheir positions relative to one another, and this is further aggravatedby the sticky character of the binding constituents, e. g. thewater-and-cement paste, in a Portland cement concrete. As a result, suchmixtures moving through a closed conduit under pressure, uponencountering a sudden restriction or obstruction in the conduit,

or undue resistance to their travel, instead of having their particlesrearranged and speeded up in passing the obstruction, will stow or packat such obstruction, so as to completely stop the flow of the stream.

This stowing property is quite troublesome in attempting to combine twoor more confined streams of concrete moving under pressure, but has beensuccessfully met and overcome in a peculiar type of Y-connection andcombining chamber, known as a Siamese, described and claimed in aco-pending application filed by Charles F. Ball on September 8, 1933,Serial No. 688,650, entitled Multiple unit concrete pumping apparatus.These Siamese connections are heavy and unwieldy, being ordinarilycomposed of a cast combining chamber some 10 or 12" in diameter, and twoor more legs of '7" steel pipe, the whole being some 6 feet long. Theymust, however, be removed from the discharge line at the conclusion of apour, or when the 10 pump is shut down over night, in order that thesystem may be flushed, and prepared for resumption of work the next day,as disclosed in the copending application filed jointly by Charles F.Ball and myself on November 24, 1933, Serial No. 15 699,632, entitledMethod of cleaning and preparing conduits for the handling of plasticconcrete mixtures; and it is the principal object of the presentinvention to provide a supporting structure for such conduit sections,which will greatly facilitate the manipulation thereof, enabling it tobe performed by a single operator.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in the novel details ofconstruction and combinations of parts which will be more fullyhereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

Referring to the accompanying drawing forming a part of thisspecification in which like ref- 30 erence characters designate likeparts in all the views:-

Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic plan view of a twin concretepump of the type above mentioned, with a Siamese and supporting 35structure therefor, in accordance with the present invention;

' Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the Siamese and supportingstructure, together with a portion of the pump;

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevational view, partly broken away and insection, of a portion of the Siamese and supporting structure;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the sup porting structure, asseen from the left of Fig- 45 ure 3; and

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view, taken approximately on theplane indicated by the line 5-5 of Figure 3, looking in the direction ofthe arrows. 50

The pump illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprises two substantiallyidentical units, A and B, mounted upon a frame 10, and providedrespectively with the outlet members I I and l 2, to which are connectedby means of suitable slip joints I3 55 and I4, the legs l5 and I6 ofSiamese IT. The said legs converge into the combining chamber l8 of theSiamese, which discharges into a reducing taper section to which isconnected to the remainder of the discharge line as will be clear fromFigure l.

The supporting structure for the Siamese I1 constituting the presentinvention comprises an elongated supporting bar 22, here shown as an Ibeam, one end of which is suitably secured to the frame ID of the pumpand the other end of which has rigidly secured to it, by welding orotherwise, longitudinally-spaced pairs of upstanding plates or cars 23and 24. A track member 25, here shown as being of channel shape, ispositioned above the end of beam 22, between the said pairs of ears 23and 24 and has rigidly 'secured by welding or otherwise, to one of itsend portions, a sleeve 26 through which passes a stud or bolt 21 carriedby and extending between the ears 24. The trackway is thus pivot-allymounted'relative to the supporting member 22 for vertical swingingmovements between the cars 23 and 24.

The other end of the said member 25 is provided with a rigid boss 28having a threaded aperture 29 in which is mounted an adjusting screw 30which may be provided with a lock nut 3| for maintaining the same in anyset position. Said screw has a head 32 which is adapted to engage andrest upon the upper surface of the supporting member 22 as will be clearfrom Figures 3 and 4. Obviously by adjusting the screw 30 the trackway25 may be adjusted about its pivot 21 relative to the supporting member22.

The Siamese ll is provided with a plate 35 which is welded or otherwiserigidly secured to the legs l5 and I6 adjacent the juncture of the saidlegs with the combining chamber I8. The said plate is so positionedintermediate the ends of the Siamese structure that the ball or nubbin36 rigidly carried thereby will lie approximately in the plane of thecenter of gravity of the structure so that the latter will substantiallybalance upon the said nubbin. The nubbin is received within the channeltrackway 25 as clearly illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 5 and thusfurnishes a support for the Siamese which permits of both longitudinalsliding and universal swinging movements of this section when it isuncoupled from the remainder of the conduit. The combining chamber l8 ofthe Siamese is preferably provided with a pair of extending hand grips31 by means of which the section may be manually manipulated by theoperator in assembling and disassembling the section with and from thesystem.

While one form of the invention has been illustrated and described, itis obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction as well as the precise arrangement of parts withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, and therefore it is notWished to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be requiredby the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for mounting a readily removable horizontal section of theconduit of a plastic concrete transportation system, comprising asupport; and means engageable with said support arranged to mount saidremovable section thereon for sliding movements to facilitate connectionand disconnection of the section to and from the remainder of theconduit, and to provide for free swinging movements of the section whendisconnected.

2. Means for mounting a readily removable horizontal section of theconduit of a plastic concrete transportation system, comprising asupport; and means at substantially the balancing point of saidremovable section arranged to mount the latter upon said support forfree universal swinging movements when disconnected from the remainderof the conduit.

3. Means for mounting a readily removable section of the closed conduitof a pressure concrete transportation system, comprising a supportingchannel; and a nubbin carried by said section receivable in said channelto mount the section thereon for sliding movements relative thereto, andto provide for free universal swinging movements of the section whendisconnected from the remainder of the conduit, there being a slip jointbetween said section and conduit to facilitate said sliding movements.

4. Means for mounting a readily removable section of the conduit of aplastic concrete transpcrtation system, comprising a recessed supportingmember; and a nubbin carried by said section at substantially itsbalancing point, said nubbin being receivable in the recess of saidsupporting member to mount the section thereon for universal swingingmovements when disconnected from the remainder of the conduit.

5. Means for mounting a readily removable section of the conduit of aplastic concrete transpcrtation system, having a pressure inducingmeans, comprising a support adapted to extend from said pressureinducing means; a trackway pivotally secured to said support; means foradjusting said trackway about its pivotal connection, relative to saidsupport; and a member carried by said conduit section for engagementwith said trackway to mount said section for sliding and swingingmovements relative to the remainder of the conduit.

CHARLES I. LONGENECKER.

